Treaty Oak Collective Aims For a Badass Weekend at Walters

Walters' new location finally has a head of steam. A frighteningly long downtime followed the shuttering of the Washington Avenue location, and some began to fear a new one would never materialize. Sure enough, the new location finally opened it's doors at 1120 Naylor late in 2011, just north of UH-Downtown.

While it may have taken a while to get back up to speed, events like the recent Southern Lord records showcase and an Island Reunion weekend have brought out increasingly large crowds. What started as a slow burn has begun to build into a bonfire, restoring Walters' status to close to the storied history of Walter's on Washington.

If the past year has been building, this weekend's two day "Bad Ass Weekend" event may be Walters' true coming-out party. Booked by Jaron Sayers of Treaty Oak Collective and boasting more than 30 bands, the party will not only encompass Walters, but two afterparty shows at the nearby House of Creeps compound.

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Sayers has absolutely packed this bill with bands from all over the map, so that the show offers everything -- as long as what you want is loud, fast and punishing.

"I wouldn't ask them to play if I didn't want everyone to check them out. All of them are fucking ragers," Sayers says of the bill. "I really wanted to put something together that would put Houston back on the punk map."

Dissatisfied with Free Press Summer Fest, he says the guys behind Badass Weekend wanted their own thing, an event where they could "keep it cheap and keep it brutal."

We can't help but think he and Walters have succeeded.

With 33 bands and shows spread across nearly 14 hours this weekend, you are going to have plenty of time to catch all the grind, noise, punk and death you can handle. We picked our five favorites to help you out.

Fuck the Facts -- 8:50 p.m. Friday @ Walter's Longstanding Canadian group Fuck the Facts has grown from a single member grindcore project to a female-fronted five piece that continues to push the envelope and develop far beyond the confines of the limited grindcore genre. DIY at its core, the band produces all its own art, printing and handles a large portion of its own releases.

PLF -- 10:40 p.m. Friday @ Walter's Another veteran act that has been boiling under the surface of Houston's music scene for nearly 15 years, PLF (neé Pretty Little Flower) is as extreme as it comes. Blending equal parts thrash and death metal with grind and power violence, the band manages to create something wholly different and unquestionablly aggressive. We introduced you to their latest release newest release Devious Persecution and Wholesale Slaughter a few days ago.

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Back to Back -- 12:45 a.m. Friday @ Ballistics Skate House More pure punk sound then most on the bill, this show is bound to get a pit going. Post-Nirvana punk at its core, borrowing equally from east coast hardcore, the 1990s Pacific Northwest and full on skate punk. It's fitting then they will play a stage that shares its space with a full mini-ramp.

Hatred Surge -- 10:40 p.m. Saturday @ Walter's Boasting members with ties to nearly a dozen other Texas metal and grindcore acts, Hatred Surge is as close to a supergroup as the Southern grindcore scene has. With songs in sub two minute bursts, trying to tack a genre on this band is like nailing butter to a sidewalk in July. Death metal, grindcore and half a dozen other subgenres make appearences. It hardly matters, all that's important here is that it's fast, it's heavy and it's layered with musicality that far outshines the implications of a grindcore three piece.

Black Coffee -- 12:15 a.m. Saturday @ House of Creeps Absolutely drenched in aggressive sound of early-'80s hardcore, Black Coffee is nothing if not short and to the point. The shrill, stark Birthdeathbirth EP sounds like it was recorded in a sheet metal shack in the dead of winter and we mean that with all sincere compliments. It's a sound that you have to pay attention to appreciate because with songs clocking in at under a minute, you blink and it's over.

You've got two days of brutality on your plate, folks, better skip lunch today, you aren't gonna need it. Tickets are available at the door or in two-day pass form here.

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